The Hot-Seat

A message from our Chairperson, Gary Bowerbank.

"The topic of our first virtual conference, Future of Gas, could not have been more relevant with last recent announcements involving many of the major IOCs that clearly show a desire and need to embrace the Energy Transition and lower society’s Net CO2 Footprint. In the conference we touched on some of the main leavers at our disposal; Hydrogen (Blue, Green and a few new colours), CCSU (the need to lower costs and demonstrate it is sustainable) and Biogas (a perhaps under-utilised resource). In due course these papers will be published via GPA Europe, where you will find a wealth of knowledge gathered over the years. I would like to round off with a massive “Thank You” to all those who supported us with the event; our sponsors, the technical committee, our Executive Administrator (Helen), the speakers and of course the delegates."

GPA Europe Online in 2021
Highlights from our Virtual Conference
"The Future of Gas"

Here we recap the best of the action from our Virtual Conference 2021, which saw more than 90 attendees gather online to discuss the Future of Gas.

Start as you mean to go on

We kicked off both days of the conference with a keynote address.

David Simmonds, former GPA Europe Chairperson opened day 1 of our conference and presented on "Future Energy - Challenges For The Regulator".

Jean-Francois Cam, Integration and Stakeholder Manager from Equinor kick started day 2 and gave a talk on "Northern Lights – developing the world’s first open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure".

We will share our keynote speeches with you all over the coming weeks.

An inspirational insight

The future of gas is quite a challenge, the world's population is continuing to grow and we are already seeing a rise in energy demands. Companies within the Gas Processing Industry are having to adapt to this; their business models, products and services. We had two days of in-depth discussion with a focus on Hydrogen, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage, and Biogas.

Energy Transition Workshop

Our Workshop was informed by presentations on an Overview of the European Gas Industry by Adrienne Blume from Gulf Energy Information and a look at the Shell Energy Transition Scenario by Ren Xianfang from Shell. We then split the group into 4 Think Tank teams, where each team was given a problem scenario:

1. Solutions for affordable CCS
2. Hydrogen in the energy mix
3. Did we miss the biogas revolution?
4. Carbon-neutral LNG

Each team fed back to the main group and their findings were presented to the conference the following day. Thank you to all those involved!

Our Sponsors

A special thank you to our Gold Sponsors:

We will shortly turn our attention to plans for the Autumn and will be in touch shortly - we will continue to update you via our website, www.gpaeurope.com, and on our social media platforms as our plans take shape. Don't forget to connect with us on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

Paper of the Month

This month we are looking back to a paper from Luca del Monaco, Eni SpA and Ricardo A. Gonzalez, Shell Italia EP. Presented at our 2019 Autumn Conference.

"Val D’Agri oil and associated gas increases, how gas processing challenges were solved"

"​In 2008, ENI (operating partner) and Shell Italia EP (non-operating partner) planned to increase oil production in Val D’Agri, ultimately increasing associated gas. To process the increased associated gas without altering the Sulphur recovery trains, an acid gas removal unit (AGRU), an acid gas enrichment unit (AGEU), and a thermal oxidizer was designed. In 2009, it was discovered that the additional associated gas contained more mercaptans than expected, which warranted the project scope to be re-assessed. During this evaluation, it was determined that the proposed design could not satisfy the requirements of processing the desired gas throughput without sacrificing sales gas specifications or stack SO2 emission specifications. Different design options were evaluated to meet the specifications while minimizing the modifications to existing equipment and the original design. The chosen solution maintained the design but was enhanced by swapping the solvents in the AGRUs and the installation of a CANSOLV unit downstream of the thermal oxidizer to remove SO2 produced by the combustion of additional mercaptans. This paper details the challenges in debottlenecking Val D’Agri to process the increased associated gas, the advantages and disadvantages of solution options, and some of the lessons learned from a CANSOLV unit in operation."

Download the Paper

Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities

We provide a direct marketing channel to Directors and Process Engineers within the natural Gas Processing Industry.

We have multiple sponsorship opportunities at our events, as well as advertising within In Brief and our Newsletter - contact us for more information.

Highlight Your Institution

In Brief

Our November 2020 Issue of In Brief is out on the streets - Check it out!

Our next issue will be out this month - check for updates on our website and on LinkedIn.

If you would like to contribute towards our November 2021, we have an opportunity to get involved. A chance to promote your name through the industry.

In Brief is a great opportunity to gain product recognition to the GPA Europe membership.

Please contact the GPA E Team for more information - [email protected]

Get Involved

Gulf Energy Information

Our media partner Gulf Energy Information has just launched a new technical publication, H2Tech, serving engineers and professionals in the hydrogen sector.

If you would like to register for a free trial subscription to the weekly e-newsletter or the quarterly magazine, just click on the graphic below:

If you have news you would like to share with our members, please email us at [email protected]